Sunday, 17 February 2013

This past weekend I was in Los Angeles, California for the 25th anniversary of WWE Summer Slam. But more importantly, I was there with some other members of the WWE Games Community to check out WWE ’13 for the very first time.

Unlike last year however, we didn’t get nearly as much time with the game like we did the year before. So I sincerely apologize ahead of time if some information you all are looking for is not present here, myself and the rest of the community did the best we could with the time we had. So let’s not waste any more time shall we? Let’s get right to it!

As I’m sure all of you watched live over the weekend, the roster reveal for WWE ’13 was simply massive! The biggest roster in WWE Games history, but THQ wasn’t willing to stop there. Cory Ledesma noted during the press event that with the inclusion of DLC characters, WWE ’13’s final roster number would be over one hundred! That’s right folks, over 100 superstars, divas, and legends will make up WWE ’13 once DLC is all said and done…Are you ready? You should be!

When it comes to gameplay, those of you familiar with the control schemes and gameplay from WWE ’12 will feel right at home when you pick up a controller to play WWE ’13. While the basic gameplay mechanics of last year feel the same, the amount of polish and new animations that have been added will be very evident to any hardcore WWE Games player.

The entire experience feels much smoother than last year, with moves connecting every time exactly how they’re supposed to. Which was a very big complaint among fans with WWE ’12 so it was very refreshing to see things like that get taken care of in this year’s game.

One of the new match types making its long awaited return this WWE Games this year is the Special Referee Match. But don't think its all fun and games as the referee this time, if you step out of line too many times...None other than Johnny Ace himself will come out with a new referee and eject you from the match (voice over work and all). So make sure you're a fair referee, or you might be wished well in your future endeavors.

Besides that, only a couple things bothered me while playing some exhibition, regarding things such as move sets and the presence, or lack thereof for the newly touted feature for WWE ’13 “WWE Live”. While I was guaranteed that the build we were playing was far from final and that my complaints wouldn’t be a problem later on (It only had a handful of playable superstars and divas in it) I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with how it was presented to me, the crowd noise just wasn’t that impressive to me at all. But my opinion of “WWE Live” changed in a big way when I experienced it inside the crown jewel of WWE ’13 (so far) Attitude Era Mode.

Attitude Era Mode begins with the rise of the group known simply as D-Generation X and spans over a two year period reaching the climax at WrestleMania XV.

In this mode the chapters are as follows…

The Rise of D-X

Austin 3:16

Brothers of Destruction

The Great One

Mankind

WrestleMania XV

In these chapters you will play as Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Bret Hart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Kane, The Rock, Mick Foley (All 3 faces?), and the Undertaker as you will embark on a trip down memory lane or perhaps experience for the first time, what made the Attitude Era one of the greatest times in the history of professional wrestling.

While my time with the mode was short I couldn’t help but be impressed with the sound of the crowd and the commentary in this mode. When I first heard about and imagined what WWE Live would be like, this was it. It truly blew me away by just how good everything sounded. Each match I played reminded me a lot of the “Jordan Moments” in NBA 2K11, where you would have certain objectives to complete in the match before picking up the victory.

You don’t wish to complete the objectives? That’s cool, just go ahead and win the match. But if you want to unlock more than 100 of the games unlockables this year I think you’ll want to take on as many of the match objectives as possible. The ones I saw were fairly simple to do and I enjoyed the challenge of being able to pull them off.

I really can’t wait to get my hands on the entire Attitude Era mode to see all of the great moments and matches they have included into this mode. One thing that certainly peaks my interest is the fact that the final chapter of Attitude Era mode is simply “WrestleMania XV”.

So I wonder which matches from that pay per view we will be experiencing in WWE ’13, if you need a refresher course…with the roster as it stands, these are the matches that are possible to recreate in WWE ’13!

Mankind vs. Paul Wight (The Big Show)

Kane vs. Triple H

Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac for the WWE European Championship

The Undertaker vs. The Big Boss Man inside Hell in a Cell

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship

Which of these matches will be included in Attitude Era mode still remain to be seen, but all are most certainly possible. I would have to believe that any important moment regarding these eight superstars over the course of those two years will be included in some way shape or form inside of this mode. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was ever this excited for a story mode like feature in WWE Games.

The last thing I was able to check out was the only creation mode that was available to us in this build, none other than the vastly improved “Create an Arena” mode. As you all can recall last year we were able to change the basically the ring and all that surrounded it last year leaving many wishing for more customization throughout the rest of the arena, well fear not WWE Games fans because THQ listened and delivered in a BIG way!

Not only is everything we loved from last year back, but they have added a TON of improvements! Starting with the stage itself, there are several pre made stages ranging from old Raw and Smackdown sets to a lot of old classic WWE pay per views, as well as some others that I think were made up just for this mode.

From there you can edit them anyway you like. Not a big fan of the lightning bolts during the Raw on Spike TV era of WWE TV, get rid of them! Want your own design on the stage or the ramp? Go for it! It’s completely up to you. It certainly looked like everything about the stage was completely customizable and I wish I would have had more time to look through it all but what I saw was extremely impressive.

It’s not just the stage you can edit either but the actual arena itself. Want your arena to be in a very small venue (like Ring of Honor) you can totally do that here. How about a HUGE outdoors stadium? Of course you can! Knock yourself out; the choice is up to you!

You even get to select what type of crowd you want in your arena, from the modern crowd of today to the Attitude era crowd from yesteryear, it’s completely up to you!

The ideas and possibilities for my own created arenas were running through my head non-stop while I was looking through this mode and I’m sure if you’re a big creation fan like me you are very excited right now at the wide arrange of possibilities this mode is going to bring to the table this year.

To think there are so many things left to be revealed, Universe 3.0…the rest of the creation suites…online features and modes…and who knows what other surprises THQ has up their sleeves for us to reveal between now and October 30th.

Walking away from WWE ’13 this weekend was hard to do. And now the very long wait from now till October 30th begins, I saw someone ask Cory Ledesma this week on Twitter to create a time machine, I won’t lie…that sounds like a pretty great idea right about now!

This weekend I will throw up answers from the questions you guys asked me last weekend to try and get answered regarding WWE ’13. Keep in mind, if I don’t answer your question it’s simply because I don’t have the answer, not that I’m ignoring it or choosing not to answer.

If you have any other questions that I didn’t cover here or just can’t wait till this weekend for me to answer hit me up on Twitter @RAWFShowtime and I’ll do the best I can to answer as many questions as possible!